More questions arise as police visit 'family' of KQ stowaway

Wednesday March 18 2020

Isaac Beti, father of Cedrick Shibonje Isaac, who is reportedly being held at Industrial Area Remand Prison in Nairobi, as pictured at Makhubuye village in Kakamega North Sub-county on November 14, 2019. PHOTO | ISAAC WALE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Summary

Butali assistant chief Chibui Kongoni told the Nation that they spoke to Mr Isaac Beti and his wife Janet Kakhali to try and unravel the mystery surrounding the identity of the stowaway.

Mr Beti has previously been identified as Isaac Manyasi, father of stowaway Paul Manyasi, but his national identity card says he is Isaac Beti.

Mr Beti said he was interviewed by journalists from the British television station but was at pains to explain why he was identified as Isaac Manyasi yet his identity card has a different surname.

Detectives visited Makhubuye village in Kakamega North Sub-county on Wednesday to record a statement from the alleged family of a man who fell off a Kenya Airways plane as it approached London in June.

Butali assistant chief Chibui Kongoni, who accompanied the detectives, told the Nation that they spoke to Mr Isaac Beti and his wife Janet Kakhali to try and unravel the mystery surrounding the identity of the stowaway.

The detectives reportedly left after recording a statement from the family.

When contacted, however, Kakamega DCI Peter Kimulwo, said he was unaware of the investigations.

DIFFERENT STORIES

Mr Beti has previously been identified as Isaac Manyasi, father of stowaway Paul Manyasi, but his national identity card says he is Isaac Beti.

On Wednesday, the family made an about-turn, saying their son’s name was in fact Cedric Shibonje, who was reportedly arrested for in July defilement and locked up at the Industrial Area Remand Prison in Nairobi.

It is not clear why they changed the story.

“We talked to Mr Beti to try and get information about his son and the interview he gave to Sky News, but at first he was not very cooperative," the assistant chief said.

"He kept giving different versions of what happened as the detectives spoke to him."

NAMES ISSUE

Mr Kongoni said the family insisted that their first born son, identified as Cedric Shibonje Isaac, was alive and that they had spoken to him by phone.

Mr Beti said he was interviewed by journalists from the British television station but was at pains to explain why he was identified as Isaac Manyasi yet his identity card has a different surname.

“The journalists visited my home some three weeks ago and showed me photos. They asked me whether I could identify the person in the photo and I told them that some of the photos were of my son but one was not,” he said.

NAIROBI VISIT

In an interview with the Nation, the man said he travelled to Nairobi on November 4 after a caller was informed him that his son had been arrested and arraigned at the Kibera Law Courts for allegedly defiling a pupil.

“I went to Nairobi and saw my son being brought to court. I had carried some money to deposit as bail so that he could be released from custody but that did not happen because there was chaos in the city," he said.

"I was forced to leave and travel back home."

Mr Kongoni said Mr Beti's the family settled in the village after buying land there.

“Mr Beti is a man who keeps to himself. His son worked at cyber café at Butali market before he left for Nairobi. We are all puzzled by the confusion about the identity of his son,” he said.